Strengthening Washington's Public Schools

WEA's Education Support Professionals (ESP) are the more than 12,000 support employees who work for the public schools in Washington. It's often an ESP member who is the first to greet your daughter in the morning or the last to say good-bye to your son in the afternoon. From before dawn until late into the evening, ESP are working -- sometimes visibly, sometimes not so visibly -- to make our schools great. The WEA believes all school employees are part of the family of dedicated educators serving Washington's public schools.

Voting rights: ESP members are full, active, voting members of the WEA and participate in all activities of the organization. Our ESP members are also full voting members of the National Education Association and participate in all activities and levels of the parent organization in Washington, D.C.

Bargaining: Every Bargain is a Living Wage Bargain: Find living wage research and how to calculate a living wage for your area.

ESP members are able to collectively bargain under Washington's Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act (Revised Code of Washington 41.56). RCW 41.56 predates the bargaining statute for teachers by 10 years. Most ESP units are also organized into bargaining units and negotiate collective bargaining agreements with their local school boards. The bargaining statute allows ESP to bargain wages, hours, terms and conditions of employment. Some local ESP units bargain along with teachers in the district and have separate contracts. One bargaining team in these units negotiates both the ESP and the teacher contracts at the same time. This process, called unified bargaining, is a goal for all ESP and teacher units of the Washington Education Association.

ESP local units: There are 129 local ESP units in Washington. There may be more than one local ESP unit within the same school district. For example, in the Kent School District there is a single unit of paraeducators, another unit for Head Start employees, a third unit for early childhood education employees and a fourth unit of coaches. Although the greatest number of units are found in the Puget Sound area, ESP members and units are found geographically throughout Washington.

Some ESP members, such as those in Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane and Mercer Island are full voting members of the local education association and do not have separate local units. Most of the ESP members are organized into local ESP units and receive service from their local or adjacent UniServ Council. Local ESP units have their own set of officers, bylaws, constitution and bylaws.

State structure: ESP local units and local UniServ Councils are the primary structures for ESP. The WEA/ESP Action Coordinating Team goal is to have a representative from each UniServ Council.

WEA ESP issues conference: The ESP Action Coordinating Team sponsors several regional conferences each year.

NEA annual ESP conference: The National Education Association holds an annual conference for ESP members.

WEA's ESP employee of the year: Each year, the WEA awards program honors an ESP member that is nominated by their peers. The recipient is also WEA's nominee for NEA's employee of the year award. The award recognizes outstanding work with the local, state and national organizations, outstanding work for schools districts and outstanding contributions with the community. Applications are now being accepted. Submission deadline is Feb. 13, 2009.

For more information, contact Sharon Closson at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .